Life Without Aperture
by Constance Penman
Summary: Chell's finally escaped the facility that had contained her through most of her life. Even though she's managed to find civilization and a job to keep her alive, she still feels as though something were missing. But that all ends with the arrival of a letter from a very familiar AI along with a moron.
1. A Prologue of Sorts

"Hey… Hey!" I awake to Evelyn, someone I share a room with, shaking me.

"Person, you're going to be late for work!" I slowly open my eyes, grab her hands, and get up as I push her away from me.

"You could at least show some appreciation for me being your human alarm clock."

_"I thought I gave her a name to call me. I guess she's forgotten. Again."_ I lean down to a piece of paper next to me and write, "My name is Michelle." Sure, that isn't my real name, but it would be dangerous handing out "Chell" to everyone who asks.

"'Michelle,' huh?" She looks me up and down. "It doesn't quite suit you… but close enough."

I roll my eyes. That's what she says every morning. I get into my only non-aperture originated outfit and grab an apple from a bowl of fruit Evelyn insists on keeping next to the door. I walk out, munching on the apple. Evelyn chases after me. "You could at least say thank you!" She shouts at me, still hung up on the "human alarm clock" thing. I turn my head over my shoulder and glare at her.

"Or show your gratitude physically if you continue to refuse to talk." I roll my eyes at her. She had already come to the conclusion that I _could_ speak, I just _refused_ to.

Which is correct, but she's not supposed to know that. Then again, if she thought I was mute, she might think I'm _dangerous_ and a _lunatic_ as well. And that wouldn't be good.

As I continue to walk down the hall, a few doors open up to people going to work. My job? Well, the job choosing committee was out of jobs, except for one. Waitress. I wouldn't even think a post-apocalyptic world would _need_ a waitress, but, well, it's my job.

Once I've arrived at the food center, I slip on an apron to show people what I do. As soon as it's on, someone flags me down.

"Excuse me, but I've been sent here to get some bread for my brother," says the girl, who looks about age ten. I nod to show I heard her and go to grab her request. I sigh, it's going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 1 (which looks kinda like 2)

"_Finally, I'm done." _Chell took off her apron, ready to go back to her assigned room and sleep, when a messenger ran towards her, waving.

"Hey!" Once he was next to her, he stopped, panting. "I've got a letter for someone, and I have no idea who it is." When he stood up straight, Chell recognized that he lived across the hall from Evelyn and her. "Is this you?" He handed her a folded slip of paper with "Chell" written on the front. She started to nod, then remembered he shouldn't remember her as Chell but Michelle, so instead she looked confused, reached into her pocket for a pencil, and pretended to gently rub it over "Chell" so she appeared as if she were checking for other, hidden letters when, in reality, she was lightly writing in a M, I, and an E. She then smiled and nodded, turning it around to show him that it "really" said Michelle.

He smiled, saying, "Another delivery accomplished," and left.

Chell opened the letter to see what message it contained. Inside, it said:

"Chell, (If you are not Chell, then what are you doing? Reading other people's mail is illegal.)

If you are reading _this_, it means you are Chell. In which case, I should tell you who this is. It's been awhile, hasn't it? This is... Let's just say Caroline. You remember me, right?

In any case, I've sent you this letter to warn you: I may or may not have sent a moron from space in your direction. I apologize for forcing him on you, but this is for science!

Don't die."

Despite herself, Chell smiled, remembering "Caroline," who was actually GLaDOS, and when she became Caroline, and even when GLaDOS deleted Caroline. She tucked the letter into a pocket and made her way back to the room, thinking about that "moron from space" who had first helped her to escape from the facility, then took it over himself and tried to kill her. She sighed. Chell missed him and his rambling, no matter how much she could claim to hate him. On paper, of course.

When she finally reached the room, she noticed that some music was playing. She couldn't quite tell where it was coming from, but she couldn't hear it in the hallway, just in her own room. Chell could faintly hear the words, "Well here we are again, it's always such a pleasure…" The voice seemed familiar, but far away. She sat on the bed, contemplating how exactly the Intelligence Dampening Core would arrive there. "Sent him your way" sounded like GLaDOS had sent him directly from space, but that would probably send Space Core as well. Had she brought him in to Aperture first?

"I'm back." Evelyn walked into the room, obviously tired from her job.

"Bad day at work?" Chell asked with a piece of paper and a pencil.

"Yeah. The boss decided that I had to clean the storage room. I swear he hates me." She sighed and flinged herself down onto her lower bed. The former test subject quickly hid the piece of paper GLaDOS had somehow gotten to her and realized the music had stopped._ "Weird…"_

"Who is your boss?" Chell asked (on paper of course), just wondering if his name would sound familiar.

"Erik Johnson. He's in charge of most of the physical labor jobs." Chell's eyes widened slightly at the familiar sir name, but Johnson was fairly common. She should start worrying if someone mentions he's related to the former C.E.O. of Aperture Science, she thought. "Why?"

She shook her head and shrugged, trying to not reveal her initial surprise. Evelyn closed her eyes and sighed in what Chell assumed to be relief of being home. Or, at least, the room with a bed she currently slept in. "How was your day?" she asked in return, trying to catch the silent room mate off guard. She made the so-so gesture with her hand even though she knew her room mate couldn't see it. Evelyn reached up and stretched, moving her pillow along with her arms. She pulled it back down to rest her head on.

While her eyes were still closed, Chell went over to her drawer which she had almost no use for considering her lack of clothes. The drawer was taller than a normal drawer was supposed to be, just the right size for her filthy, burned companion cube.

No matter what GLaDOS said, she swore that it was sentient.

She quietly place her hand on the gently vibrating pink and gray surface. The cube she had thrown into an incinerator so long ago... It really was a wonder that it had survived.

_"All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin."_

Pulling her hand away, Chell turned back towards Evelyn to make sure that she still wasn't watching. She closed the drawer behind her and write on her notepad, "The hike is going to be soon. We should probably get ready." She tossed it in front of Evelyn's face that seemed to be investigating to the wall. Once that was done, she started to prepare herself. Chell slipped on the Aperture Science tank top and put a warm jacket over it seeing as no one could know that Aperture was still working and, as a plus, it was cold outside.

She then pulled on some hiking boots that she had gotten for her first hike there. They were the only shoes she actually owned and didn't borrow from Aperture's fall collection of testing garments.

They weren't as comfortable as her Long-Fall Boots, but she didn't want to accidentally break them or something.

Seeing as the jeans she was currently wearing were fine for a hike, she started to pull on her bag for drinks and snacks when Evelyn turned around and got up to get herself ready. "Can you put some stuff in there for me too?" she asked, putting on her own hiking shoes. "I lost my bag somewhere, and I get easily dehydrated."

Chell couldn't say no to that (both mentally and, supposedly, physically), so she stuffed some extra bottles of water into the full bag.

She slowly let herself relax as Evelyn got herself ready and walked out the door. She could take care of Wheatley later. And besides, what could happen on a hike?

_Oh, I don't know... Maim or kill yourself with a single wrong step?_

_Sorry, I recently went through a... not so good hike. I didn't break anything, or slip for that matter, but that hike was _four days ago_ and my legs are still sore. I really didn't know what kind of hike it was before I went on it._

_ANYWAY, sorry for keeping this chapter from you readers for so long. What has it been, a month? I was going to make it longer but I wanted to publish _something_, so this seemed like the obvious choice. Hope you liked reading!_


	3. Chapter 2 (are you sure that's not 3?)

"Alright! Are you all ready or what?" The a little too enthusiastic teacher asked of everybody. As per requested early on in enrollment, all the students shouted (or simply punched the air if their voices refused to sound) back in agreement.

Chell would be the first to admit it was strange being in a college after Aperture's tests and death traps. Sitting in class every day was very... anti-climactic. She probably wasn't even technically the correct age for school. If she had been around mid-twenties the second time she went to sleep and all she had to go off of was a bunch of nines, she couldn't really tell just how old her body was. Plus, after all those adrenaline vapors, her sleep schedule was way off-balance. The only non-surprising thing at that time was that Chell was majoring in Physical Science. After all, just because it had threatened her life many times didn't mean she couldn't be interested in it.

Finally, after going over many safety precautions and hazards of the hike, the students started walking. After running over propulsion gel, jumping on repulsion gel, and going from wall to floor with portals, Chell was fairly used to going at high speeds and quickly adjusting her balance. Because of this, she quickly made her way towards the front of the group, directly behind the guide. When he noticed her behind him, visibly holding herself back, he gladly let her in front of him, reminding her to be careful.

Chell smiled in gratitude, and began to progress ahead of the students and teacher. She was growing faster and making her way up the hill that began the two-mile hike when she heard faint panting behind her. She turned around and saw Evelyn, trying to catch up with the more athletically inclined girl. Chell stopped for the appropriate amount of time before Evelyn had caught up to her. At that point, she started walking again, but much slower.

"You shouldn't go ahead of the group like that. It's dangerous!" Evelyn urged the silent girl. "Why did you do that?" Chell wordlessly indicated the guide. "You mean he let you through?" Chell nodded. Evelyn let out an exasperated breath. "You shouldn't do that, you could have been seriously hurt." The talkative girl showed a strange amount of concern for her room-mate. Chell rolled her eyes, knowing she wouldn't ever have really been injured. She had been careful, the death traps of Aperture hadn't taught her nothing. Evelyn sighed, giving up on the topic of not going ahead of the group. After thinking for a while, she asked, "Why don't you talk?"

Why didn't Chell speak? Well, that went back to when she had first woken up. After she realized that GLaDOS didn't exactly want to help her, and was, in fact, continuously throwing insults at her, she swore to herself not to show any reaction to these things, knowing that _she_ would only gain pleasure from it. She would only speak once she escaped from Aperture. Besides, Chell never could focus with noise. But now that she knew so much about Aperture, she couldn't risk spreading any of that information.

Of course, Evelyn couldn't know any of this, and Chell didn't have the courage- no, the foolishness- to tell her; so she simply pointed to the rough position of her voice box. Evelyn sighed, giving up on that as well. "You really don't share anything, do you?" Chell ignored this question, thinking it rhetorical. They walked together in complete silence, just as Chell had grown used to, when she saw something white and blue fall from the sky. The usual rush of the wind was accompanied by a distressed, and familiar, voice.

_"Is that...?"_ Chell rushed forward once more, ignoring Evelyn's protests. The guide told her to slow down, but she couldn't risk anyone else discovering what she thought she had seen. The hike's slope turned downwards, and Chell changed the use of her muscles appropriately. She was forced to slow down for fear that she would fall, but she was ahead enough that the group wouldn't catch up with her anytime soon.

Once she was half-way down the hill, Chell heard a distinct thudding sound. _"That would be him."_ She tried to find where the sound had come from, and continued on her path down the hill, taking a sharp left once she reached the bottom.

"Michelle!" The guide called out to her. Chell ignored him and continued to search for the fallen sphere. _"Where...?"_ After searching the area, she realized that it smelled like something was burning. She followed the scent, seeing as whatever had fallen would have had to go through the atmosphere, and came upon a rather small clearing. In the middle of it was a small comet, smoldering and seemingly the source of the smell. Next to it was a blubbering Intelligence Dampening Core. Chell slowly approached him as he went on about how much he hurt and "Where's the sense in putting pain sensors in a personality construct anyway?" Only once she was standing directly over him could the core actually notice her.

"Oh, hello, luv! Um... Do you think you could pick me up? Seeing as I am currently... immobile. That... that is a problem. Well, not so much a- a problem as a _potential_ problem, might... might inhibit some kind of-" Chell glowered at him, making him stop his rambling. "Um... I'm taking that as a no...?" She rolled her eyes at his uncertainty and glanced about, making sure no one else could see this spectacle. With all that done, she reached down and lifted him from the ground. Feeling the familiar weight in her hands, she smiled gently, but looked up so Wheatley couldn't see her overwhelming emotion of nostalgia. "Oh, so you are picking me up. Well, that's... that's some good decision-making there. Keep that up and uh... don't forget to apply the grip."

Giving up on hiding her reminiscence, Chell looked down at him and smiled a surreptitious smile that made the core feel slightly less safe in the familiar arms of the former test subject.

To fill the silence, Wheatley decided to recite the apology he had repeated for so long in space. How long had it been? Three months? It seemed a lot longer to him. But maybe it was just space. "Look, I- I'm sorry. I'm genuinely sorry. I was bossy and- and monstrous and I truly, truly am sor-"

"Who's that?" Chell quickly turned around, almost dropping the heavy core. The figure, taken aback at spotting the white sphere with its deep blue optic, took back its previous statement and replaced it with: "_What _is that?"

_"Evelyn."_

* * *

_I'm so sorry! This took much longer than I thought it would. Thank you for reading this. I mean, I just thought I'd post it for fun on here, maybe showing it to some friends, something like that. _

_Anyway, as is pretty obvious, my Wheatley voice needs some work. So I'll try to work in some practice somehow... Or, you know, just work on this and hope I'll get better with experience. Hehehe... Yeah, I'm lazy. Thanks for noticing. Anyway, I'll go get started on the next chapter! Bye for now..._


	4. Chapter 3 (I need to get more original)

"Michelle, what's that thing you're holding?" Evelyn slowly approached Chell, wary of the strange white and blue sphere in the girl's hands.

_"Oh, so _now_ you use __the name I gave you."_

"Oh, uh, 'ello!" The personality construct stuttered out, not fully grasping the situation. Chell carefully moved her hand to cover the Aperture Science logo.

Evelyn visibly jumped back, surprised at the sudden speech of the mysterious core. "Michelle, now would be a _fabulous_ time to start talking."

"Oh, her name isn't _Mi_chelle. Just Chell. I- I think. That's... I'm _fairly_ certain that's her name. Can- Can see the confusion. You know, pretty similar. But- but her name is Chell. Niiiiiiice and simple." The former test subject inwardly face-palmed.

Evelyn looked over said test subject and proclaimed, "Now _that_ suits you. I knew there was something off about 'Michelle.' Anyway," she looked back down at Wheatley, now determined to uncover the mystery of his nature, she questioned, "What are you?"

Before he had the chance to answer something idiotic, Chell quickly hit his shell, trying to shut him up prior to his beginning. It didn't really work, as the core went on saying, "Ah, well, my name is- that- that _is_ what you were asking, right? I- If that was, by any chance _not_ what you were asking, then, uh, just... just say something. Okay?" Evelyn was now too shell-shocked to interrupt him, so he continued onward. "Nothing? Al-alright then, my name is Wheatley. N-No last name. Or- or maybe it _is_ my last name, and they- they just referred to me by my last name! Not really sure, I- I don't actually have a frame of reference, She just always..." Wheatley stopped himself, seemingly having some sense make it's way into his mind. "Well, Chell here never even spoke, really."

Evelyn, finally able to speak, took this opportunity to question Chell and the sphere. "Wait, so she really is mute?"

Wheatley looked taken aback by this question, and answered as best he could. "D- Did you think she wasn't? One second, let me check my... my files..." Chell waited for a moment, and, sure enough, he followed with, "Can you turn around? Just for a second?" When Evelyn made no move to do so, Chell faced the other way so no one was looking at him. She wasn't really sure what "his files" would say, or if he actually had any, but she waited non the less.

"Ah! Here we go. Oh the... the files are redacted. I- I can't reach them. Sorry." Chell turned back to face Evelyn as Wheatley stated this, and cheered inwardly. At least they wouldn't force her to speak. "Oh! Wait, no, there _is_ something I can reach. Subject 0001..." He proceeded to blurt out a bunch of binary code, that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. "01000011 01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 00100000 01011011 01010010 01000101 01000100 01000001 01000011 01010100 01000101 01000100 01011101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100100 00100000 01101110 01101111 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100011 01101111 01110010 01100100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110011 01110011 01110101 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110110 01101111 01101001 01100011 01100101 00100000 01100010 01101111 01111000 00101100 00100000 01101100 01110101 01101110 01100111 01110011 00101100 00100000 01101111 01110010 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110101 01110100 01101000 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100110 01110101 01110011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100001 01101011 00101110 00100000 01010011 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00100000 01110010 01100101 01101010 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100100 01110101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101110 01101111 01110010 01101101 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01101000 01101001 01100111 01101000 00100000 01110100 01100101 01101110 01100001 01100011 01101001 01110100 01111001 00101110" he said, voicing each and every number without tiring.

Evelyn sighed, annoyed, and requested that these numbers be translated to English.

"Oh, ah, right. Sorry. In English, that would be..." the humans could hear gears whirring inside his head, trying to translate the bunch of it. "That would mean: 'Chell [REDACTED] has no recorded issues with her voice box, lungs, or mouth, and still refuses to speak. She has been rejected due to her abnormally high tenacity.' I-it's true. She never gives up. Ever."

Chell slowly backed away, without really realizing it, but was stopped by a very proud Evelyn. "So you _can_ talk. I knew it!" She approached the non-mute girl and talked, as best she could, seeing as Chell was holding a large sphere, into her face. "Well? Say something."

Chell remained quiet for a few moments, and then whispered back, "Are you happy?" She then disregarded any former notion of hiding the logo, dropped the sphere, and ran.

* * *

Evelyn leaned down and took a closer look at the core. "So your name's Wheatley, right?" He, uncharacteristically, remained silent. "Why was she so against talking?" She asked herself, obviously not expecting him to know. The girl slowly picked up the sphere and groaned a bit at the weight, but didn't drop him. She carefully inspected the shell, and finally found what Chell had been hiding. "So that's where you're from." Evelyn smiled a sweet, innocent smile. "I've found her..."

Wheatley looked up, confused, but was met with what appeared to him as a sinister smile, and his optic shrank.

"And you won't say a thing." Her smile grew.

* * *

Chell ran deeper and deeper into the forest, feeling the wind run through her air reminded her of the bright orange propulsion gel from that place that still haunted her dreams, only to realize she had no idea where she was. Despite all her tests, not one of them had worked on her sense of direction. Figuring out which platform to go to next didn't really cover that type of knowledge.

She looked around, searching for a path of some kind, and found none. Starting to get desperate, took deep breathes to calm herself. _"Alright. Now listen for any rustling that might indicate the direction they're heading..." _She remained silent until she heard the sound of leaves being stepped on to her... right.

She let out the breath she had been holding, and followed the sound. She finally found the back of the group, and came up close behind so she was part of it once again.

* * *

_Okay, so this chapter was a little short. I'm kind of just writing and not much is coming out... So I guess you could say I've got writer's block. Except I know where this is going. I just don't really know how to get there. _("-_-)

_I'll try to get these chapters longer, but it might not work. Sorry!_

_By the way, that really is what the ones and zeros mean. Translate it, if you want; I'm not lying..._

_Or am I? MWAHAHAHA!_


End file.
